I am not a Honda fan by any stretch of the imagination. They make good dirt bikes and ATVs. They killed it when they created the original NSX. And if you want a decent commuter car that will get you good mileage, sure, they are a solid choice. But then you get to hear it from the power to weight ratio crowd, the ones who gutted every last half-ounce out of an EK Civic in the hope of kicking the ass of the first Fox body Mustang they came across. The problem with those machines was simple: front wheel drive doesn’t play nicely at the strip.

Well, Honda guys have started getting resourceful. You see, the all-wheel-drive SUVs and crossovers that have been out for a bit, like the CR-V, have parts that can and will work in a Civic if you know how to put everything together. This is what happens when you take a Civic hatch, build up a turbocharged K20 four-banger, and get the rear wheels into the game: a lightweight that digs into the strip with all four tires like a scared mole before it produces a top-end charge that can catch even the most badass of cars off-guard. This is a no-kidding seven second Civic. This is insane.